


Glitch

by F1_rabbit



Series: Voyages of the Starship Estrella [8]
Category: Motorcycling RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Chaos, M/M, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 06:56:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15480102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F1_rabbit/pseuds/F1_rabbit
Summary: Marc was hoping for some quality time with his boyfriend, but a glitch in the software for the emergency medical hologram gets in the way...





	Glitch

Marc licked his lips as he got into position, straddling Tito as his hard cock pressed against his hole.

He had been waiting for this moment for a while now, but running a starship had a habit of getting in the way of his love life.

Leaning down for one last kiss, he had a grin on his face that felt like his skin might split in two, and it was still no match for Tito’s grin.

“I love you.”

“I love yo-”

The intercom beeped, and Jorge’s voice echoed around them.

“Captain, there is a problem in sickbay.”

“I’m on my way.” Marc rushed out of bed, and he had pulled on his uniform by the time that the computer beeped to say that the call had been terminated.

“I’m sorry.”

“I understand, the ship has to come first.”

“Don’t go anywhere.” Marc blew Tito a kiss as he ran out of his quarters, and the knowledge that Tito would be waiting for him when he got back would make dealing with whatever had gone wrong this time much easier.

As he jogged down to sickbay, he wondered what had gone so wrong that Dani wasn’t the one to call him, and that thought had him sprinting through the corridors, his heart pounding as his mind flashed up images of all the worst case scenarios as to what could have happened to Dani.

*

He got to sickbay to see Jorge standing there, his face neutral, but Marc could see the worry in his eyes.

“What’s happened to Dani?”

“Follow me.” Jorge strode through the doors as they whooshed open, and Marc was expecting to see people injured with no doctor to treat them.

But there was only one person lying on a bed, an ensign with a minor cut on their arm, who was being treated by Dani.

“I don’t see the problem, Commander.”

Jorge strode up to Dani, turning to look at Marc as he waved his hand through the hologram, and they flickered for a second before stabilising.

“Where’s Dani?”

“Doctor Pedrosa has been relieved of his duties.” The hologram’s voice was eerily like Dani’s, and yet there was a robotic quality to it, his eyes unblinking as he stared at Marc.

“Why?”

“He is unfit to carry out his duties.”

“What’s wrong with him, is he sick?”

“No, he is unfit to carry out his duties.”

“That was all I could get out of the hologram,” Jorge said, “Scotty’s on his way to see if the hologram’s broken.”

“I can assure you that all my subroutines are functioning within normal parameters.”

“Thank you, hologram.” Marc couldn’t bring himself to call the hologram Dani, and from what he could tell, neither could the rest of the crew.

“Is Dani in his quarters?”

“No. He is apparently no longer aboard this ship.”

“Computer, locate Doctor Pedrosa.”

There was silence as the computer worked away, the whirr of the air pumps all that could be heard, and Jorge stood so still that Marc was convinced that he had a power-saving mode.

“I cannot detect Doctor Pedrosa on this ship.” The computer beeped to say that it was done, and Marc chewed on his fingernails as he tried to work out what it all meant.

There was no way that a shuttle could have taken off without him knowing about it, and the shields prevented anyone from beaming him off the ship without his permission.

Although in the depths of space, there could be alien races with powers beyond their imagination, but that didn’t help find Dani.

“Is there anywhere on this ship that the computer can’t scan?”

Jorge raised an eyebrow as he thought about it, and he came to his logical conclusion at the same time as Marc did.

“The brig.”

*

Marc had run as fast as his legs could carry him, down what was starting to feel like an endless spiral of stairs, but he just had to know that Dani was unhurt.

Jorge didn’t look out of breath when they reached the floor to the brig, and for a second Marc envied his superior Vulcan biology.

Marc’s fingers were trembling as he stabbed in the code for the brig, and even the milliseconds that he had to wait for the door to open felt too long.

He braced himself for the worst, and he found himself breathing a sigh of relief when he saw Dani sitting in one of the cells, his face scrunched up into his grumpy face.

“Dani.” Jorge rushed over to him, and Dani leapt off the bed to meet him, but the electromagnetic field stopped them from touching, pushing them apart with its invisible force field.

Marc entered the code to unlock the cell, his captain’s override that could give him control of anything in the ship, but nothing happened.

“The emergency medical hologram, he has to be stopped.”

“Why?” Marc tried his code again, but it was no use, and he had a sinking feeling that the hologram wasn’t the only thing malfunctioning today.

Dani paused, his eyes wide as he looked around, and he leant in so that he could whisper.

“He’s gone crazy.”

“How? He’s just programming.” Marc felt the hairs on his arm stand on end as he got closer to the force field, and Dani slumped back down onto the bed.

“Starfleet sent a software update, and after that he started acting strangely.”

Jorge crouched down so that he was at eye-level with Dani, and Marc knew that they were talking telepathically from Dani’s facial gestures.

“Out loud please, I need to know what’s happened so we can fix this, and fast.” Marc didn’t have to say any more, if the hologram was broken and their only fully trained medical officer was locked in the brig, then the crew were at risk if any of them needed medical treatment that the first aiders couldn’t handle.

He tapped his fingers against the control panel, entering his code one last time, but the force field was still there, taunting them with its invisibility.

“I was treating a patient when the emergency medical hologram appeared, and I thought that we were under attack.”

Marc nodded, it was protocol that the medical hologram activated automatically when the ship was at risk.

“There have been no recorded security incidents today.” Jorge used the small comms panel to check the logs, but there was nothing. It had been a quiet time for them, sailing through mostly empty space as they explored the vast expanse of the universe.

“Who has an override for the hologram?”

“Just me and you,” Dani said, chewing on his fingernails as Marc did the same, both stopping when they realised what they were doing. “And I guess yours isn’t working otherwise I’d be out of here already.”

“What’s your code?”

“Twenty-six, zero two, eighty-five, nineteen.”

Marc punched in the numbers, hoping to hear the crackle as the field deactivated, but there was nothing.

“He’s taken control of the system.” Dani buried his face in his hands, and Marc felt his pain.

A shiver run down his spine, he didn’t like being out of control, and especially when it meant that the whole ship was at risk.

“Jorge, you stay with Dani while I find out what Scotty and his team can do to fix this.”

“It is illogical for me to stay here.”

“Go, I’ll be fine.” Dani smiled, and Marc could see their love radiating out.

“You’re right, the more people working on this, the quicker we can get this fixed.”

“I will go and contact Starfleet to see if they have any idea why this has happened.”

“Let me know what you find out.” Marc sprinted out of the brig, the adrenaline coursing through his veins as he headed up to sickbay.

He really hoped that Scotty had figured out how to stop the hologram.

*

Marc burst into sickbay to see Scotty restrained on one of the beds, and he looked along to see the rest of his engineering team trapped in a similar manner.

“What happened?”

“The medical hologram said that we were sick.”

Marc couldn’t resist glancing at Rins when Scotty said that, but this was no time for jokes.

“Doctor?” Marc looked around, his eyes darting back and forth as he looked for the wayward projection. “Computer, activate emergency medical hologram.”

Marc waited for the hologram to reappear, but there was nothing.

“The hologram is already activated, Captain.”

Marc looked around, creeping over to the lab, but there was no way for a hologram to use it, they had access to the entire computer database, and the computer at their command.

“John, is there a way to switch off the hologram?”

“Not easily, it’s not designed to be switched off.”

“Can we switch off their power supply?”

“Not really.” John sagged against his restraints, and Marc could see his frustration at not being able to do anything about his situation. “Even when there’s no power, there’s a backup battery to power the life support and the emergency medical hologram.”

“What if there was no power at all?”

“Then we’d all suffocate within three to five minutes.” John struggled against his restraints, but it was no use. “And the backup batteries would last longer than we would.”

“Captain, I think you are unfit to carry out your duties.”

Marc looked round but he couldn’t see where the hologram was hiding.

The crackle of static electricity rippled over his skin, his body blinking out of existence as his atoms were whisked away.

He was being transported, and he had a pretty good idea who had done it, and where they were sending him.

The hologram was getting rid of anyone that stood in their way.

Everything went black for a second, and then Marc woke up in the brig, looking over at the now occupied cells around him.

Dani picked at the comms device in his cell, trying to break it open.

“How did they get you?” Marc asked Jorge.

“Transporter beam.” Jorge didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact that a rogue hologram had hijacked their ship, and it was clear that he was having a silent telepathic conversation with Dani at the same time.

“It knows that we’re trying to stop them, and they’re taking measures to prevent that.” Dani cursed as his nail snapped, the blood trickling down his finger as he sucked at it.

“What are we going to do now, Captain?”

Marc tapped two fingers to his comms badge, and he called the one person that he could talk to without the computer knowing what he was saying.

“Tito, I need your help.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Remember when we were cadets, and we decided to make sure that we passed the Kobayashi Maru test?”

“Yes…? Although if I remember it correctly it was your idea.” Even over the crackly line of the comms device, Marc could hear Tito’s smile.

“I got the blame for it, as always.”

“Whenever there’s trouble, you’re always in the middle of it.”

“Nothing ever changes.” Marc snorted in laughter, and the sound of bedsheets rustling made him smile.

Tito had been waiting for him.

“When will you be back?”

“As soon as I’ve finished my academic probation.”

“I love you.” Tito’s voice trembled, and Marc knew he was thinking of running down to the brig, but that wouldn’t help them.

“I love you too.”

Marc rested his hand over his comms device, the little beep signifying the end of the transmission.

“Do you think he understood your message, Captain?” Jorge’s voice was little more than a whisper, although if the hologram was using the computer to listen in, that wouldn’t stop them hearing everything that they said.

“We may not be telepathic, but Tito understands.”

*

“I love you too.”

Marc’s call had his heart pounding, torn between running down to rescue him from the brig, or going to deal with a rogue hologram program.

He wouldn’t have given him a cryptic message if he could talk freely, and he knew that Marc would tell him to protect the crew rather than him.

Tito shot out of bed, nearly forgetting to put his uniform on as he sprinted out of Marc’s quarters and down to sickbay.

The emergency medical hologram was the only hologram on board that could exist outside of the holodeck.

*

His phaser was set to stun, even though that was no use on a hologram, but it was reassuring to have the cool metal in his hands.

He tapped in Marc’s override code, peeking into sickbay the second that the door slid open, and he saw Rins strapped to a bed, his eyes wide as he slowly shook his head.

Tito compressed his lips, the thought of leaving Rins stranded there made his stomach churn, but if Rins thought it was a bad idea him going in then there was no point making the situation worse.

He needed a plan of action.

And he knew just the people to help him.

*

Alex groaned, if someone had opened the door without him opening it then it had to be Marc using his emergency override, which meant things were bad.

Luca kissed the end of his nose as Alex cuddled in closer, burying his face against Luca’s shoulder.

“At least this time we got to make love before people barged in.”

Alex snorted in laughter as he pulled the sheet around himself, not caring if Marc saw him like this.

But it wasn’t Marc.

Tito looked frantic, his hair sticking up at funny angles as he caught his breath.

“Where’s Marc?”

Tito’s eyes darted around as though he was scanning for attackers, and he ushered Alex in the direction of the bathroom, startling Luca who followed without question.

“Tito, what’s going on?”

Tito shut the door before turning the shower on to full temperature, the steam filling the room as the water roared, echoing around in the small room.

Alex reached out to rest his hand on Tito’s shoulder, focusing him as he leant in so that he could whisper.

“The emergency medical hologram has gone rogue, and its imprisoning anyone who tries to stop it.”

“You never did like holograms.”

Tito sighed, he’d not had a lot of luck with holograms in the past, but at least they’d been confined to a holodeck.

“I need your help, the rest of the engineering team is strapped to beds in sickbay.”

“We can just switch it off,” Luca said, but Tito shook his head.

“It’s not designed to be switched off.”

Alex paused, his free hand automatically reaching out for Luca’s.

“I think I have a plan.”

*

They had split up so that the hologram couldn’t get them all, and Tito crept along the corridor, slinking in the door to the transporter room.

Alex was wielding a screwdriver with a grin on his face, and Tito knew that look, he was going to have fun playing with the systems that were supposedly unbreakable.

“After the incident with the holodeck, Scotty put manual overrides into all non-emergency systems.”

“How does that help us with the emergency medical hologram?” Tito whispered, glancing over his shoulder as though he expected the hologram to appear at any moment.

Alex smiled, unscrewing a hatch under the transporter control panel to reveal a red manual override switch.

“This gives me control of the transporter, and then I can transport the hologram somewhere safe.”

“You can’t transport a projection of light and sound.”

Alex grinned, cutting several wires as Luca fiddled with the dials on the control panel.

“No, but I can transport all of the hologrammatic projectors and control circuitry from sickbay into outer space.”

“Is there any other way to stop this?” Tito wondered what Marc would think about them transporting part of the ship into the void.

“Given that we’re all locked out of the computer, and not even Marc’s override is working, this is the only plan we’ve got.”

“Okay, let’s do this.”

*

Marc had tried everything to disrupt the force field that was holding him, including trying to use the frequency emitted by his comms device to pierce a small hole in it so that he could reach the control panel outside, but it was no use.

And then the lights flickered, the crackle of static electricity giving Marc hope as they were plunged into darkness.

“Follow me.” Jorge’s hands were warm to the touch, his Vulcan physiology warmer than the average human, and Marc stumbled through the darkness, trusting Jorge’s superior vision to lead them out of the brig.

The hiss of the emergency door release was all it took for Marc to fly into action, feeling his way along the corridor as he made his way to the stairs.

“Everyone to sickbay, now.”

The stairs were easy to navigate in the dark, the handrail guiding them, and the from the sound of footsteps behind him, Dani and Jorge were managing despite the darkness.

Marc made it half way up the stairs when he slumped to the ground, gasping for air as he realised that no power, meant no life support systems, and no air.

He reached out for Dani, but he wasn’t close by, and he went to call out for Jorge, but his lungs couldn’t get enough air.

The darkness claimed him, and his last thought was of his crew, the people that he had sworn to protect.

The people that he had failed.

*

Tito reached out into the darkness, feeling his way along the control panel until he felt skin. The smell of smoke hung thick in the air, and Tito coughed as it caught that back of his throat.

“Alex?”

“No, it’s me, Luca.”

“Where’s Alex?” Tito felt his stomach twist into knots as his foot nudged against something heavy, and he knelt down next to Alex, breathing a sigh of relief when he felt a faint pulse.

“He’s just unconscious.”

“He must have been electrocuted when the transporter overloaded.”

“Is that what caused the power cut?”

“We must have damaged the ship’s power supply, now that parts of the circuitry is missing, things will have shorted out.”

“Does that include life support?”

Luca exhaled, his frustration clear, this wasn’t his area of expertise. “Alex would know.”

“The crates in here should have life support for away missions.” Tito darted to the other side of the room, crashing into the crates that were closer than he remembered, and he fumbled with the catches, able to recognise the torch by feel.

Everything looked worse in the light, the panel burnt and smoking, and Alex looked so pale under the bright white light of the torch that could illuminate even the darkest of caves.

He threw Luca a breathing unit, and he attached it to Alex, watching as his breathing evened out.

“We need to get to sick bay, John and his team will be able to fix this.” Tito grabbed enough breathing apparatus for the engineering team, stuffing them into his top as he clipped a couple of torches onto his belt.

Luca threw Alex over his shoulder with surprising ease, and Tito nodded in appreciation before leading the way down the corridors, stopping every two minutes to pull the manual override levers for the doors.

By the time they got to sick bay, the oxygen was thinning, and Tito was glad for all the breathing devices.

Scotty and his team were still strapped to the beds in sickbay, the restraints mechanical, and Tito blasted them open with his phaser.

Luca left Alex on a free bed, rushing to get breathing devices to the engineering team, and John took a deep breath before sitting up.

“Which one of you idiots destroyed the ship’s power supply?”

“The unconscious idiot,” Luca said, as Alex murmured in his sleep, and Luca stroked his hair to comfort him.

“It was the only way to get control back from the emergency medical hologram.”

Scotty tutted as he rolled his eyes, and Tito knew that he was calling them idiots in his mind.

“We could have just used the captain’s override.”

“He’s locked in the brig,” Tito said, and he felt a stab of guilt about not going to rescue Marc. “But even with his code, it didn’t stop the hologram.”

“Curious.”

“You two can talk about this later.” Rins grabbed his tool kit, and he threw John a spanner. “We should really get the power back on before the entire crew suffocates.”

The engineering team moved as one, Tito bringing up the rear as he tried to keep the light steady, all of them taking turns to force the doors open.

Alex was still unconscious as Luca carried him, and Tito hoped that Alex would be conscious enough to help fix the damage. They were going to need every crewmember that they could get to put this right before what little oxygen they had was all gone.

Tito handed John the last full breathing apparatus as they approached the warp core, the power source for the entire ship.

“All we need to do is get the core up and running,” John said, and Tito breathed a sigh of relief.

He pulled the manual release for the door, and his smile was wiped off his face when he saw the chaos.

The room was on fire.

“The fire suppressant system must be offline.” John shut the door again, and everyone looked at him in confusion. “It’ll burn itself out when it runs out of oxygen.”

Rins tapped the display for his breathing equipment, his eyes wide with fear. “Will that be before or after we run out of oxygen?”

“Hopefully before.”

John looked at his watch, his eyes wide as he counted down the seconds.

“Now.”

Tito yanked at the door release lever, and the smoke wafted out, but there were no flames.

John rushed to work on the charred control panel for the warp core, and the rest of his team did as they were told, scurrying around as Tito made sure that Alex was still stable, Luca clutching his hand with such force that his knuckles were white.

The warp core emitted a flash of blue light so bright that Tito was sure he would be seeing spots for days, but it was worth it to have the power back to the ship, and all the life support systems that depended on it.

John ran a few checks, before signalling for his team to gather round.

“Alex, go find Doctor Pedrosa.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Pol, go fix the transporter.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Lieutenant Rabat, get Ensign Marquez to sickbay, you’ll have to control the medical computer if we can’t find Doctor Pedrosa”

“Yes, sir.” Technically Tito didn’t have to say sir to anyone but Marc and Jorge, but it was the easiest way to let John know that he’d heard his order.

Luca helped Tito pick Alex up, the journey back to sickbay easier now that the doors opened automatically.

Alex’s pulse was weak, but it was there, and the faint whimpers of pain broke Tito’s heart as he held Alex close.

“We’re nearly there, and then Dani will get you all patched up.”

Tito rushed through the doors to sickbay, the room looking relatively untouched considering the chaos, but there was no Dani.

“Luca, drag that scanner over here.” Tito lay Alex out on the bed that John had been strapped to less than an hour ago, and Luca pushed a heavy trolley filled with equipment over to the bed.

“Computer, run diagnostic program.”

The scanning beam sparkled as it worked its way down Alex’s body, listing all the things that it found on the display screen.

Most of them were minor cuts and bruises, and a few burns from the electrical shock that he had received, but one of his symptoms was more worrying than the others.

_Lack of oxygen in bloodstream._

Tito pulled an oxygen mask over Alex’s face, watching as his breaths became less shallow, and what little colour Alex naturally had returned to his cheeks.

“Can you take care of Alex?”

Luca nodded, and Tito knew that he wouldn’t leave Alex’s side until he was conscious again.

“I need to go and check on the rest of the crew.”

*

Tito had carried four people to sickbay, but he knew that it was a fraction of the crew, and there was no way that he could move everyone to sickbay this way.

His comms badge beeped as he was carrying an unconscious Ensign Vinales to sickbay, and he hoisted him over his shoulder as Pol’s voice rang out, his breathing laboured.

“Lieutenant Rabat, we’ve got the transporter up and running again.”

“Thank you, Pol.”

Tito sat Maverick down on the floor before he dropped him, and he knew that there was a quicker way to get the crew who needed medical attention to sickbay.

“Computer, transport the crew to sickbay, starting with the most seriously injured.”

The computer beeped to say that it had understood his order, and he picked up Maverick, carrying him bridal style as the conscious crew members helped each other to sickbay.

Tito walked in to see sickbay full, and he felt his stomach twist when he saw that Doctor Pedrosa was one of the first to appear on the beds.

The diagnostic scan seemed to take forever, and Tito tapped his foot, fearing the worst when the screen flashed up its diagnosis.

_Critical lack of oxygen in bloodstream._

Tito put an oxygen mask on Dani’s face, and he crossed his fingers that Dani would regain consciousness quickly.

*

Marc came to, his head pounding as he looked around for Dani, or Jorge, but there was no sign of them.

The life support system was back on, and he took a deep breath, forcing himself to his feet on trembling legs, his muscles burning with every step.

He stumbled across an ensign unconscious in the hall, and he rushed to his aid just as his atoms were whisked away, leaving Marc staring in confusion.

“Are you okay, Captain?” Jorge’s voice was calm, and it gave Marc strength to focus on his duties.

“Are the crew okay?”

“The life support is operational, and there are no reports of serious injuries.”

“That’s good.” Marc breathed a sigh of relief, spots floating in front of his vision, and he slumped against the wall as he looked down at his torn uniform, blood caking his upper arm.

“Are you injured?”

“It’s just a scratch, I’ll be fine.” Marc rested his good hand against Jorge’s shoulder, hoping that was enough to convince Jorge that he was fit for duty.

“Starfleet are expecting an update on our situation.”

“Thank you, Commander.” Marc went to leave when he realised that he hadn’t seen Dani since he was in the brig with them.

“How’s Dani?”

“He’s conscious and treating patients, Lieutenant Rabat is assisting him.”

“That’s good.”

“Can you take control of the bridge while I report back to Starfleet?”

“Of course, Captain.”

Marc smiled, he was lucky to have such a dedicated crew.

*

Marc slumped into bed, sex the last thing on his mind after a long and tiring day.

Alex had insisted he was fine before shooing Marc out of his quarters, and Marc was sure that Nurse Marini would take good care of him.

The rest of the crew were expected to make a full recovery, and the engineering team were going to work through the night to replace all of the missing wires and the emergency medical systems from the ship.

But something still didn’t feel quite right.

He felt alone in his big bed, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that something, someone, was missing.

Tapping his comms device that was sitting on his bedside table, he couldn’t help but smile when he heard Tito’s voice.

“Can I get a hug?”

“I’m on my way.”

It took fifty-three seconds for Tito to appear at his door, in his pyjamas, and an ensign gave him a funny look as he walked down the corridor.

Marc smiled, reaching out to hold Tito’s hand as he wandered back towards the bed, a smile on his face now that Tito was close to him.

“I guess the crew all know that we’re dating now.”

“Nothing stays secret on this ship for long.” Marc snorted in laughter, it was inevitable with such a small crew that the gossip would travel quickly.

Tito made himself comfy on the bed, and Marc cuddled in under his arm, the silence expanding like a bubble.

“I was going to come see you in sickbay, but I had to report back to Starfleet.” Marc knew that Dani would take good care of him, as he did every member of the crew, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling that he should have been there for moral support.

“It’s okay, it was just a few scrapes.”

“And I nearly lost my entire crew, because of a software glitch.” Marc felt the tension in his body return, and Tito showered him with tiny kisses until he relaxed.

“John’s fixed the software so that the emergency medical hologram will only have limited access to the control systems.”

“That’s good.” Marc knew that he couldn’t keep his love life and his professional life separate for long, but he was amazed how often their pillow talk sounded suspiciously like work talk.

Tito smiled as he stifled a yawn, it had been a long day for everyone, and Marc buried his face against Tito’s shoulder as he yawned.

“Although you might want to change your override code, half the crew know it now.”

“I’m not going to do that.”

“Because you trust your crew?”

“No.” Marc compressed his lips, taking a breath before starting again. “Yes, I trust my crew with my life, but that’s not why I’m keeping the same override code.”

Tito looked at him in confusion, and Marc grinned.

“You don’t remember the significance of the date?”

“Eighteen, zero four, twenty-four zero four,” Tito’s eyes stared into the distance as his tired mind tried to piece it all together. “The eighteenth of April 2404?”

“It was the date that we met.” Marc felt his heart skip a beat as Tito’s grin shone out.

“You’re such a romantic.”

Marc leant in for a tender kiss, his eye lids drooping as he fought a losing battle to stay awake.

“You’re my best friend, and I will always love you.”

**Author's Note:**

> *and obviously none of this actually happened, it is all a figment of my twisted imagination ;)


End file.
